Theodore Roethke Poetry Analysis Essay

Analysis through a Readers Eyes

When reading a story or a poem, readers tend to analyze, and develop their own opinions. Any content an author or poet produces is up to the reader to question, and identify what the story is trying to say. The point that I am stating is that, stories are like maps that we readers need to figure out. We have to find the starting point, and get to the destination of our conclusion, and the thoughts we have about the story or poem. In the stories that we have read so for throughout the semester, they all have different messages of what they are trying to convey to the reader in a way that can be relatable. Among all the author’s and poet’s works we have read, I have enjoyed Theodore Roethke’s poems. Roethke has developed poems that explore emotions that readers can relate to. I would like to explain and interpret the themes that Theodore Roethke expresses in the poems “My Papa’s Waltz”, “The Waking”, and “I Knew a Woman”.

In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz”, the overall theme of it is family. The reason the theme of the poem is family is because, it demonstrates an

experience between the son, father, and mother. This poem is about a father who comes home from a hard day of work. At the beginning of the poem, it states how the “whiskey on your breath / could make a small boy dizzy” (42). The poem is told from the son’s perspective because he his explaining his experience with his father who comes home from work. After the father has arrived at home, the boy explains how he “hung on like death: / such waltzing is not easy” (42). In the following quote, it is about a boy holding onto his father’s trousers, and stepping on his toes as the father walks. Between the father and son this is a bonding moment because, it is just between them. Though the father has alcohol on his breath, and might be drunk, the experience between father and son is present. As the boy hung on to his father, they both “romped until the pans / slid from the kitchen shelf; / my mother’s countenance / could not unfrown” (42). In this quote, we notice that as the father and son are making a mess in the kitchen, the mother seems aggravated. The mother’s reaction to what the father and son have done, may indicate that this had happened before. At the end of the poem, the young boy states that “you beat time on my head / with a palm caked hard by dirt, / then waltzed me off to bed / still clinging to your shirt” (42). This excerpt demonstrates a father putting his son to bed after a hard day of work. You can see that the interaction between the father, mother, and son have created a theme of family. Though it they may seem a little dysfunctional, it still shows togetherness.
The second poem by Roethke is “The Waking” which displays a theme of life. This poem displays a theme of life because, it takes you through a journey of how life is or should be experienced. At the beginning of the poem, it states how “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. / I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. / I learn by going where I have to go” (47). This quote indicates that we wake up with a purpose and that we need to pursue it with no fear. Also, this quote represents that you have to follow through a task in order to get to the place you want to be. In the second stanza, it describes how “We think by feeling. What is there to know? / I hear my being dance from ear to ear. / I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow” (47). This quote presents the feeling of happiness and joyfulness. It also expresses all sorts of emotions besides happiness that we may face. Furthermore, the poems theme is life because, it demonstrates the emotions, trials, and important events that we go through as human beings.
A third poem by Roethke is “I Knew a Woman” which has a theme of love. Love is the theme of this poem because, it speaks about the relationship between a man and woman. The introduction of the poem states the man revealing how he “knew a woman, lovely in her bones, / When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them; / ah, when she moved, she moved, she moved more ways than one: the shapes a bright container can contain!” (48) In the first stanza, it is clearly about what the man admires and loves about the woman. As stated, you already know that kind of love he has for her. In just the beginning of the poem, we as readers can also tell that this may have been the first time he saw her. Towards the end of the poem, the man expresses how “Love likes a gander, and adores a goose: / her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize” (49). The feelings that he has for her is inevitable, and will never end. Overall, this poem displays a theme of love which is present throughout.
Theodore Roethke is a poet that has developed poems with the themes of family, life, and love.

I chose to examine “My Papa’s Waltz”, “The Waking”, and “I Knew a Woman” because, they all share theme’s that are in sequence. These poems consist of life lessons that many people will go through at certain points in their lives. Another reason I like these poems is because, they are all what a person needs. Theodore Roethke’s poems are consisted of moments that grabbed my attention, and really made me think about life and the lives around them. Overall, I admire Roethke’s poetry because, they are relatable in a sense that speaks the truth of what people go through. By the time I was done reading, I felt as if I went through a journey of realizing what is really important in this world. His poems have made me think more about what surrounds me, and to appreciate life

more.